Apple Buys Popular Weather App Dark Sky

Apple has acquired the popular weather app Dark Sky in a move that could turn the iPhone and smartwatch maker into the exclusive provider of an app known for its minute-by-minute weather updates.

The acquisition, which Apple confirmed to CNN Business on Tuesday, March 31, will mean the end of Dark Sky’s apps for Google’s Android and Wear OS, according to a Dark Sky blog post. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

From its beginning as a Kickstarter campaign in 2011, Dark Sky wowed users by promising predictive forecasts that were accurate down to the minute and based on users’ exact locations. By applying artificial intelligence to radar data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Dark Sky could tell users exactly when it was going to rain within the next hour, allowing them to time their walk to the coffee shop or their commute home. By 2015, the company stated it was serving 8 million forecasts a day.

But the news that Apple will shut down those apps on July 1 suggests the company intends to make Dark Sky exclusive to its walled garden ecosystem.

Google’s platform won’t be the only one losing access to Dark Sky. As part of the acquisition, Dark Sky announced it will discontinue its application programming interface late next year. That feature allows third-party app developers to access and use Dark Sky’s weather data in their own apps. On Tuesday, Dark Sky stated it has already stopped taking new signups from developers looking to access Dark Sky’s data.

Full Content: CNN

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